Advanced Building Products

Advanced, wood-based building products represents a significant economic opportunity for Maine’s forest products industry, and an important tool for carbon sequestration. Maine’s vast forestlands position it for success in this growing field. Industry 4.0 (the application of information technology and real-time data to optimize processes and improve operations) is revolutionizing the manufacturing industry. Within construction, manufacturing-based production methods offer new ways to design and build affordable homes at scale .

  • Goal 1: Research Objective
    Further develop innovative wood-based building products and construction processes, including wood fiber insulation and mass timber (engineered wood products that result in strong, large structural panels, posts, and beams), and innovative building techniques and technologies (such as prefabricated construction).
  • Goal 2: Enterprise Objective
    Catalyze the development of an advanced- building materials and techniques manufacturing cluster, including facilities for large-scale production of mass timber and wood fiber insulation.
  • Goal 3: Workforce Objective
    Safeguard jobs in Maine’s forest economy and create new jobs connected to the design, manufacture, delivery, and marketing of wood- based building products.
  • Goal 4: Climate Change Objective
    Increase demand for carbon-sequestering products in long-lived buildings, encourage energy- and resource-efficient building products and processes, and encourage working forests that further sequester carbon.

Mass Timber

Mass timber (engineered wood products that result in exceptionally strong, large structural panels, posts, and beams) represents a significant economic opportunity for Maine’s forest products industry, and an important climate change mitigation tool. Maine’s vast forestlands, and over two decades of research experience, position it for success in this growing field.

Mass timber is a family of engineered wood products, including glue-laminated timber (glulam), nail laminated timber (NLT) and cross-laminated timber (CLT), among others. These three products use dimension (“2-by”) lumber as its primary feedstock, sustainably produced by five large sawmills in the state today with over 500 million board feet (MMBF) of annual production of spruce- pine-fir south (SPFs) lumber. Maine, being the most heavily forested state in the nation by percentage of land area (89%), is ideally situated for a mass timber manufacturing facility, sitting atop the Eastern U.S. seaboard, one of the most populated areas on the planet. Maine’s vast forests and rural economies could feed the exponentially growing demand for mass timber in urban centers, such as Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Washington D.C. and beyond.

Opportunity & Objective

  • The University of Maine has already established itself as a leader in R&D and commercialization of engineered wood products. The 100,000-square-foot Advanced Structures and Composites Center (ASCC) is known nationally and internationally in this field, working closely with the university’s School of Forest Resources, as well as many of Maine’s forest products industries. A planned expansion will nearly double its size with a mass timber addition in 2023.
  • The opportunities are many, with ASCC being an important piece of the puzzle when attracting businesses to the state that seek development of innovative products and processes. The objectives include:
    • Continuing innovative wood product development to support Maine’s forest products industries.
    • Foster not only supply-side issues, but also increase interest and demand in mass timber products, which sequester carbon in long-lived buildings and encourage working forests that will continue to further sequester more carbon.
    • Attract a mass timber producer to the state, which will bolster Maine’s sawmills and create new jobs in rural communities.
    • Training Maine’s future workforce in state-of-the-art facilities, working with many of the state’s forest product industrial partners.
  • Showcase CLT in large buildings through use of mass timber in ASCC’s planned 90,000+ square foot Green Engineering & Materials (GEM) Factory of the Future (FoF).

Notable Maine Institutions & Organizations

  • Advanced Structures and Composites Center at the University of Maine has conducted research on mass timber since 1996, including over 275 industrial trials with clients from Maine and beyond.
    • American Wood Council: A nationally recognized technical authority and advocate for the sustainable wood building products industry in the codes, standards, legislative, regulatory, and climate policy areas.
    • FORMaine: Maine’s Forest Opportunity Roadmap: An EDA-funded effort to revitalize Maine’s forest products industry and grow from $8.5 billion to $12 billion annually.
  • Maine Forest Products Council: A coalition of Maine forest products industry companies.
    • Maine Mass Timber Commercialization Center: An EDA-funded effort from 2017-2020 to attract a mass timber manufacturer to Maine. Research component included testing all ten species in the SPFs lumber grouping to ensure suitability for CLT production.
  • Northeastern Lumber Manufacturers Association: The agency that oversees most lumber producers in the region.
  • Northern Forest Center & Northern Borders Regional Commission: An advocate for revitalization of the Northern forest region.
  • WoodWorks: A nonprofit trade organization promoting use of wood products.

Research Activities

  • An EPSCoR grant allowed for the establishment of the Advanced Engineered Wood Composites (AEWC) Center in 1996. Research in early years focused on reinforcing glulam beams with fiberglass. This funding allowed for the growth that has turned the center (now known as the Advanced Structures and Composites Center) into the largest R&D facility in the state of Maine.
  • EDAT — In 2016, following closures of five major paper mills in Maine, an Economic Disaster Assessment Team (EDAT) was formed and sent to Maine. Priority “E” of the EDAT report stated: “Invest in the research, development and commercialization of emerging wood technologies.” In particular, the EDAT report singled out the unique opportunity that exists for development of Mass Timber (e.g., cross- laminated timber) production in Maine: “Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT) research at the University of Maine is linked to several potential manufacturing facilities seeking east coast locations. Immediately form a collaboration of appropriate parties to promote the siting of a CLT facility in Maine and identify recommendations to incentivize wider use of CLT and possible demonstration projects.”
  • EDA MMTCC — In response to the EDAT suggestion, the ASCC won a competitive Economic Development Administration (EDA) RIS i6 award. This $450,000, three- year award created the Maine Mass Timber Commercialization Center (MMTCC). This Center included establishment of an advisory board, consisting of more than 50 entities in Maine and the region interested in attracting a CLT supplier to Maine. The MMTCC also created an attraction package “Why Maine for CLT Production,” which can be downloaded from the link found in the references below. This grant also included R&D work, including assessing the bondline durability of all ten species in the SPFs lumber grouping found in Maine and the region. The “Maine Mass Timber Event” was held in Orono, ME, bringing together 180 interested parties to roadmap the future of mass timber in Maine. Finally, the advisory committee worked with the Maine Uniform Building and Energy Code (MUBEC) committee to get Maine to early-adopt the tall wood building provisions included in the 2021 International Building Code (IBC). You can visit this website for the MMTCC which contains several reports for download.
  • USDA NIFA — This research project sought to make Maine-made CLT more competitive against regions with timber resources with higher properties. Hybrid CLT was produced, incorporating SPFs lumber with laminated strand lumber, a wood composite product manufactured by Louisiana Pacific Corp. in Houlton, ME. The research found that using LSL in the core increased panel capacity by 26%.
  • USDA ARS — Several Agricultural Research Service (ARS) funded R&D programs have been carried out recently on mass timber including:
    • New grades of CLT using Maine lumber. Two new grades of “E-rated” (using machine stress rated lumber) grades were produced by a partner CLT producer, tested and qualified at the ASCC. These grades have among the highest design values of all CLT grades published in ANSI PRG-320, which governs CLT. This makes Maine immediately more attractive from a mechanically competitive standpoint.
    • CLT with gaps. A 2-year project was carried out looking at the effects of gaps on CLT properties. 1/8 inch, 3.5 inch and 7.25 inch gaps were introduced into the panels’ minor axis layers. Additionally, the remaining boards in the minor axis were replaced with LSL which compensated for the lost shear capacity due to the lost cross section created by the gaps. The gapped panels with LSL cores performed equally to the solid members without gaps, showing promise for this product, whose gaps could be used for post-tensioning rods, electrical or plumbing chases, or filled with thermal or acoustical insulating materials .
  • USDA Wood Innovations Grants — Blast testing of CLT. Two programs (2017 and 2022) were conducted at the University of Maine testing CLT and reinforced CLT for blast applications, such as CLT used in hotels in Army bases (several have already been constructed).

Current Activities

  • EDA FOR/Maine — Seeks to increase demand for forest products in Maine from $8.5 billion in 2018 to $12 billion by 2025. One of the priorities is the attraction of a CLT producer to Maine.
  • EDA NFC — In 2022 the Northern Forest Center (NFC) notified the University of Maine of its award to fund the acquisition, installation and commissioning of a wood fiber insulation (WFI) pilot line at ASCC. A concurrent USDA Wood Innovations Grant will optimize this line, allowing for creation of products such as wood fiber insulated CLT .

Suggested Future Research

  • Funding for the MMTCC (2017-2020) expired in October 2020. Further funding to support full- time staff to manage, grow and revitalize this center and its advisory committee is needed. As a business attraction opportunity, this should be led by economic development departments.
  • Support is critical to ensure that the GEM FoF project is built, as intended, with mass timber. This demonstration building will be a model for others considering use of mass timber in construction projects throughout Maine and the region. Such a building minimizes the risk of future projects by allowing contractors and code officials familiarity with the product and systems.

Economic Impact

Many of the potential economic impacts of a mass timber production facility in Maine can be found in the Maine Mass Timber Attraction package website.

A single CLT facility in Maine would likely consume approximately 50 MMBF/year of SPFs lumber. This represents about 10% of current production, which all mills spoken to say can easily be sustainably produced. The attraction package referenced above includes a survey by the James Sewall Corporation detailing the availability and sustainability of increasing spruce-fir harvests for mass timber production.

As demand for greener, carbon sequestering, sustainable building materials increases, the contribution of mass timber to mitigation of climate change should not be underestimated.

A report by Meridian (that the University of Maine participated in) outlining these opportunities can be found at: https://s31207.pcdn.co/wp-content/ uploads/2021/07/Final-Mass-Timber-Report.pdf

References

Maine Mass Timber Commercialization Center: https://composites.umaine.edu/key-services/ wood-composites/maine-mass-timber- commercialization-center

Maine Mass Timber Attraction Package: https:// composites.umaine.edu/wp-content/uploads/ sites/20/2020/01/MMTCC-Attraction-Package-ver- 01_07_2020-abridged.pdf

Meridian – Mass Timber: An Important Climate Solution and Economic Opportunity: https://s31207. pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Final-Mass- Timber-Report.pdf

Forest Opportunity Roadmap Maine: https:// formaine.org

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development: Offsite Construction for Housing: Research Roadmap: https://www.huduser.gov/portal/portal/ sites/default/files/pdf/Offsite-Construction-for- Housing-Research-Roadmap.pdf

Woodworks: https://www.woodworks.org/learn/ mass-timber-clt

Wood Fiber Insulation

The global insulation market size was estimated at USD 52.18 billion in 2018 and is expected to expand at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.7% over the forecast period of 2019-2024. Increasing consumer awareness regarding energy conservation is estimated to propel the growth. In the EIA 2019 Annual Energy Review, residential energy consumption was estimated at 11.9 quadrillion BTUs, accounting for 16% of the country’s total energy consumption, with a residential unit (on average) using over 50% of its total energy on space heating and air conditioning. The EPA EnergyStar program has identified that approximately 90% of homes in the U.S. are under-insulated (representing approximately 100 million housing units), and estimates that insulating existing homes to meet the 2012 International Energy Conservation Code requirements and reducing air infiltration by 25% would lower the national total average residential energy cost by 11%.

Wood fiber insulation (WFI)-based products have been produced and used in European countries, mainly in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, since the mid-1990s. WFI is made in three forms, 1) loose-fill, 2) batts, and 3) rigid boards. WFI, which has grown into a 0.7 billion USD market in Europe, is currently being imported into the U.S., but high shipping costs have kept it an expensive niche product. Emerging domestic manufacturing is projected to make WFI a cost-neutral, drop-in replacement for fossil-based insulation boards, such as extruded/expanded polystyrene foam (XPS/ EPS). Wood fiber insulation has better ecological credentials, as well as several performance advantages over the fossil-based conventional insulation materials, including better sound attenuation, and vapor openness. WFI also can utilize a wide range of species, providing a critical outlet for lower-value, underutilized species which can have a positive impact on overall forest health. Finally, WFI is a prime potential consumer of residuals, which for many regions have found their traditional outlets disappearing (e.g., paper chips, pellets, biomass energy plants).

Inclusion of WFI into modular, panelized systems holds great promise as an environmentally friendly, energy-efficient, and cost-effective building solution. Panelized construction is a building practice whereby pre-engineered wall sections are produced in factory-controlled conditions, then shipped complete to the building site for final construction. Recently, the National Association of Home Builders reported that complete home panelization is the fastest growing segment of new residential construction. Indeed, the Prefabricated Modular Construction (PMC) market is projected to grow at a 6.9% CAGR from 112.4 billion USD in 2019 to 153 billion USD by 2023. Not limited to only metal building manufacturing, prefabricated wood building in the United States brought in just over $2 billion USD in annual revenue in 2011 and is expected to surpass $4 billion USD in 2020.

Related to prefabricated and panelized construction, the use of WFI is predicted to be a key component in energy retrofit applications. The global energy retrofit system market size was valued at 132.8 billion USD in 2019 and is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of 4.1% from 2020 to 2027. The residential segment, in particular, is anticipated to grow at a substantial rate over the forecast period. Retrofitting helps homeowners control their energy bills, while encouraging adoption of renewable energy retrofit systems, positively impacting the efforts to lower the carbon footprint. The scale of the problem with existing homes is staggering. Sixty-eight percent of the current housing stock was built before 1990 when more robust energy efficiency requirements began appearing in building codes around the U.S. It is estimated that 34.5 million homes have wood- framed wall cavities with no insulation at all; millions more have only 4 inches of insulation in 2×4 walls. Air leakage is also a huge problem with 71% of homes with leakage rates above 10 air changes per hour at 50 Pa (ACH50). For comparison, a new code-built home might be 4-5 ACH50, while zero energy homes routinely reach 1 ACH50.

GO Lab, Inc., a building products manufacturer based in Belfast, Maine, is currently building the first WFI manufacturing facility in the U.S. in Madison to demonstrate the market. Their wood fiber insulation is to be comprised of greater than 90% softwood fiber, will be renewable, recyclable, and nontoxic, and is expected to meet all performance requirements of common commercial construction insulations. GO Lab staff attest their WFI will be marketed and distributed at a cost-competitive price. Once running at capacity, GO Lab’s production facility in Maine will consume approximately 100,000 green tons of softwood chips annually, while addressing just 0.6% of the U.S. insulation market. Within ten years, GO Lab, Inc. hopes to expand, adding ten to fifteen additional plants throughout the U.S. located near major markets. With this expansion they project, conservatively, that they will be able to attain 8%-10% market share.

Notable Institutions & Organizations

  • Advanced Structures and Composites Center (University of Maine)
  • GO Lab Inc.
  • Northern Forest Center
  • University of Maine School of Forest Resources

Research Activities

Past

  • GO Lab has previously partnered with the University of Maine’s Advanced Structures and Composites Center on the research and development of wood fiber insulation. An objective of previous work by GO Lab and the ASCC, conducted in 2018-2019 was simply to produce a low-density fiberboard prototype as good as commercial European products from locally sourced sawmill residuals using different techniques and resins. Those efforts were considered a success; mechanical properties and thermal conductivity of prototype products were comparable to European commercial LDF products.
  • Since that time, GO Lab and the University of Maine have partnered at several other R&D programs evaluating the effect of various manufacturing parameters, adhesives (including biobased adhesive) type and loading on mechanical and physical properties of wood fiber insulation as part of an EPA SBIR-sponsored project.
  • The University of Maine’s Laboratory of Renewable Nanomaterials has also partnered with Go Lab on several projects. In one, comparable WFI panels were produced using cellulose nanofibrils (CNF) as binder to replace synthetic adhesives. The produced panels had comparable properties as well as higher compressive strength. In another current project, Go Lab is supplying raw materials to produce low-density insulation packaging materials.

Current

  • Monitoring the hygrothermal performance and energy requirements of CLT/WFI school annex in Belfast, Maine (USDA – ARS)
  • Preliminary R&D of prototype wood fiber insulated panels (WIPs) (USDA – ARS)
  • Testing to substantiate the effectiveness, efficiency, and safety of GO Lab Wood Fiber Insulation (USDA – FS)
  • UL testing of sample board and batt (fire, smoke, R-value)
  • UL testing of wall and ceiling assemblies (fire, smoke, R-value)
  • Acoustic testing
  • Compressive strength
  • Vapor permeability
  • Installation, commissioning, and optimization of pilot-scale fiberboard line at the ASCC (USFS – FS, EDA)
  • GO Lab’s mill construction in Madison to be the first North American manufacturer of WFI

Future

  • Acceptance of WFI in the model building codes
  • Use of biobased adhesives in WFI
  • Improved flame-resistance of WFI
  • Alternate construction techniques of WFI attachment to substrates
  • Quantify hygrothermal performance and energy consumption of structures constructed with WFI
  • Developing low density, insulation/protective packaging materials to replace Styrofoam

Economic Impact

Once running at full production, it is predicted that GO Lab (Timber HP) will be able to produce some $100 million worth of insulation a year and employ roughly 100 people at its Madison production headquarters. In addition, for every direct forest- manufacturing job in Maine, another 17 jobs are created indirectly according to Scott Dionne, Chief Marketing Officer, GO Lab.